THE BREATHING CITY – Ice / Traffic Installation
This project is an ongoing art and science collaboration between an urban meteorologist, a designer, a material practitioner and a composer/sound artist. Together they have embarked on a journey to explore modes of data representation that connect the personal with the scientific, and the sensory experience with the rational. Through the use of an evocative audio-visual ‘Ice – Traffic’ installation, with image projections onto ice, they aim to provoke discussion about complex climatic processes in our urban environment, for example temperature dynamics within built-up areas. In this way, they hope to share insights into the challenges of understanding localised phenomena within a global context. The Breathing City project emerged from the Spring Group, which is a large scale Arts and Science collaboration initiated by the University of Brighton (Faculty of Arts and Architecture, School of Arts and Media and School of Architecture and Design) in collaboration with University of Brighton (Medical School), University of Reading (Meteorology Department), Open University (Pervasive Interlab), University of Sussex (Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics) and University of Exeter (Department of Mathematics). The Breathing City project, is concerned with issues of communication and representation of scientific data through artistic practice. The project brings together diverse fields of research and practice. These include; data representation and interrogation, sonic design, audio-visual composition, narrative structure, material practice, sensory experience and evocation, cognition, urban meteorology and pollution dispersion; within a creative and exploratory dialogue.
Comments from visitors to the Digital Lounge, Lighthouse, Brighton:
"When the lights are off, it’s eerie and ominous, like an electric storm contained in the ice. Gives you a sense that time is running out. Reminds me of when I saw lightning contained in a cloud. Makes you think about what we are doing to our planet."
"As I looked and listened longer, I became more intrigued about its lifespan, and the way it would continue to erode. Add an understanding of what the audio and lights/projections are, and I found myself thinking deeper about the world around me."
